Tactics Under Maresca

[UniFox21]

34 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

We obviously established that Ipswich effectively progress the ball centrally. The idea was to let the CB’s have the ball. Cannon and KDH blocked the pass into Travis and Luongo. Justin and Faes were man to man on Harness and Chaplin no matter how far they drifted. This left Kasey and Mavididi to press the keeper and defence when ready to.

 

This is what is annoying about fans losing patience and groaning to press - everyone has their own individual job and if one of them steps out and opens up a space you get played around.

 

Almost like they knew what they were doing.

Intrigued me how effectively we'd managed to adjust our positioning to fully counter their build up. 

 

The main escape was then either a girl long ball or an intricate pass to curve into the path of the winger which they managed once. 

[Aleksz]

20 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Intrigued me how effectively we'd managed to adjust our positioning to fully counter their build up. 

 

The main escape was then either a girl long ball or an intricate pass to curve into the path of the winger which they managed once. 

Like I said last night I genuinely think it was our best out of possession performance this season. It was extremely tight man to man stuff… there were times where Luongo would make a darting run when their keeper had the ball and KDH would follow him all the way. I think one of the moments in the first half where Faes went down in the penalty area came from him following Chaplin dropping extremely deep - before you know it Faes has robbed the ball and is in their penalty area.

 

I find the details really intriguing. I understand why to some the football is dull, but if you pay attention to the details it actually can be super intriguing.

[Guest Kopfkino]

Struggle to think of many managers so wedded to a system and a set-up that unless it’s going from 3-2-5 to 3-1-6 he won’t change it.

 

I was impressed with us first half against Ipswich, really made them struggle on the ball. But McKenna got them in at half-time, solved the problem and as the game wore on we had increasingly little.I’d have accepted it had Maresca not come out, identified we were tired final 15, acknowledged that led to the goal but did absolutely nothing to try to stop it happening. He must of known it was going to happen cos of the work he asked them to do from the start. He had plenty of options on the bench to change it - any excuses about injuries, the squad, the need for transfers doesn’t fly with me. Are principles really more important than seeing out the final 15 minutes of a game.

 

I don’t have much hope for next season currently.

 

 

[Mike Oxlong]

12 hours ago, UniFox21 said:

Intrigued me how effectively we'd managed to adjust our positioning to fully counter their build up. 

 

The main escape was then either a girl long ball or an intricate pass to curve into the path of the winger which they managed once. 

Confused ! 

 

I can’t even work out the typo if there is one 

 

 

[st albans fox]

11 minutes ago, Kopfkino said:

Struggle to think of many managers so wedded to a system and a set-up that unless it’s going from 3-2-5 to 3-1-6 he won’t change it.

 

I was impressed with us first half against Ipswich, really made them struggle on the ball. But McKenna got them in at half-time, solved the problem and as the game wore on we had increasingly little.I’d have accepted it had Maresca not come out, identified we were tired final 15, acknowledged that led to the goal but did absolutely nothing to try to stop it happening. He must of known it was going to happen cos of the work he asked them to do from the start. He had plenty of options on the bench to change it - any excuses about injuries, the squad, the need for transfers doesn’t fly with me. Are principles really more important than seeing out the final 15 minutes of a game.

 

I don’t have much hope for next season currently.

 

 

We often see maresca change our set up at HT to deal with opposition tactics 

he must have expected that they would change things around second half. First ten mins after the restart we struggled with those changes and then I  assume we tweaked a couple things and took back general control for the next fifteen to twenty.  their attacking changes did for us because we didn’t cope - just as we didn’t at their place.  This is the most frustrating aspect for me. We must have planned for a final ten min onslaught if we were a goal up.  But bringing on younus into midfield surely isn’t likely to be a successful part of that plan?  Some will argue that we were undone by a long shot which took a deflection- but momentum was building before that and the way they found space for the shot taking the ball from out wide without an effective challenge was dreadful. 

[UniFox21]

29 minutes ago, Mike Oxlong said:

Confused ! 

 

I can’t even work out the typo if there is one 

 

 

Honestly I was half asleep and can't for the life of me tell you what that was meant to be 

[cityfanlee23]

I’d love to see Enzo adopt something closer to what Thiago Motta is doing at Bologna, he is massively impressing me at the moment and has developed a hybrid system that you wouldn’t think would be as fluid as it is. 
bologna have the highest possession in the Serie A but they also adopt a high press. 
Motta has credited 3 different managers with 3 very different styles as his inspiration, Joachim Lowe’s 2014 Germany when defending, Bielsa’s style regarding team positioning and trusting eachother and Luciano Spaletti for the attacking phase. Motta also has quite an interesting way of looking at the pitch as a whole, setting up with a 4231 but he actually calls his system as 2-7-2 as he looks at the formation vertically rather than horizontally. 2 players on the left, 7 players in the spine, 2 players on the right, he considers the goalkeeper his “first midfielder”, really refreshing take on modern football. I’d take Motta quite happily if Enzo doesn’t work out long term. 
 

Enzo doesn’t seem to be learning unfortunately, things need to change as at present it’s hard to tell whether we are where we are because of the tactics or because we have one of the best teams in the league, probably a mixture of both but I doubt this would be working with lesser players, some credit obviously has to go to him for turning the ship so quickly and getting results, but we are making the same errors we made in the first matches of the season and it’s really quite frustrating. 

[Mickyblueeyes]

 

[CosbehFox]

Enzo's burner account that 

[Stadt]

I hate when playing well, being a constant threat, going ahead and then throwing it away trying to conserve the lead. Do what was working in the first place.

 

Sitting deep trying to see the game out just invites pressure and mistakes. Sheffield Wednesday A and Ipswich A were prime examples, go for the throat.

[Rupert Von Suckalemon]

16 hours ago, GerryK said:

I, like many others, are fed up with the back and sideways passing. And even more fed up with the obsession of playing out from the goalkeeper, even with 3 or 4 opponents hunting on the edge of the penalty area. 

Even more fed up when we get a free kick way in the opponents half and the ball goes back to our goalkeeper! WHY?

I could go on, but I'm fed up.

I wish the team well, they are well capable of winning every game but I'm bored, not a lot of excitement,  maybe I'm old fashioned...........thank God I can remember more exciting times

 

Gerry Knight

Here, Here.  What’s more if we do go up we would get slaughtered playing like this.

Premiership = new team + new tactics or new coach. !!!

[adejo92]

Despite having the best squad in the division (Considerably)...I do still feel that Enzo-Ball is a bit like Champagne football with lemonade players. We do play some good football at the back, and we do manage to create space, but we lack the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernado Silva & Rodri who have that ability to play that cutting pass when it reaches midfield.

 

More often that not, we'll play some good stuff to get it into our midfield, but we then look a little bit lost and far too restricted to actually make anything of the move so end up having to go backwards and start again.

 

It's nobody's fault that we don't have the players mentioned above, but you have to work with what you do have.

 

Any one who thinks there is going to be wholesale changes within the squad next season are going to be very disappointed. We'll go into next season with a couple of new faces but it won't be any where sufficient to be successful (or even avoid relegation) if we persist on this style of play.

 

Just my honest opinion.

[StriderHiryu]

Great article on The Athletic today.

 

https://theathletic.com/5221094/2024/01/24/leicester-ipswich-maresca-mckenna-tactics/
 

While Ipswich performed better in the second half and Jeremy Sarmiento’s goal secured a point, the story of the game was Leicester’s dominance and ability to limit the visitors from building from the back.

 

“The big thing that stuck with me was how aggressive Leicester were with their pressing,” Garner says. “It was a real full press, man on man and really aggressive. They did it in two different ways, but it was seamless. The first example shows where they dropped striker Tom Cannon in with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall into midfield, so they were making a conscious effort to match up to Ipswich, who have two deep midfield players in Lewis Travis and Massimo Luongo. They also matched up with Conor Chaplin and Marcus Harness, who were operating as the two No 10s, with Ricardo Pereira and Harry Winks on each part of Ipswich’s midfield box.

 

Ipswich found it difficult to play out from the back, probably more than they have at any other time this season. That was credit to Leicester and the intensity of their press, forcing mistakes and regularly regaining possession in good areas.”

 

From open play, Leicester triggered a second type of press, with Cannon and Dewsbury-Hall advancing to put pressure on Ipswich centre-backs Luke Woolfenden and George Edmundson while McAteer and Pereira kept full-backs Clarke and Davis pinned back. Centre-back Wout Faes’ advanced position in midfield to go man-to-man with Chaplin was crucial to Leicester’s success in a high-risk, high-reward pressing system, as Garner explains.

 

I don't want to give more away as it's a paid site, but it's a cracking piece.

 

Overall, even though there are some minor shortcomings with Enzo, his overall ability to coach a cohesive modern system that is so technical is a site to behold. It's not just about having the best players in terms of quality in the division, the way we press together as a unit at the right times is glorious. There's more in the article about the attacking side of the game, but I just wanted to concentrate on the pressing, which IMO was elite for much of the Ipswich game.

 

If we give Enzo the time to get the squad he wants so he can truly play the way he wants to, fans across Europe will be waxing lyrical about us.

[ParkerPen]

what concerns me most is the amount of chances we concede in most games.

 

we dont get punished because the championship is a lower level, prem teams would also certainly find more chances, but crucially convert more of these chances.

[TheGoldenGod]

1 minute ago, StriderHiryu said:

Great article on The Athletic today.

 

https://theathletic.com/5221094/2024/01/24/leicester-ipswich-maresca-mckenna-tactics/
 

While Ipswich performed better in the second half and Jeremy Sarmiento’s goal secured a point, the story of the game was Leicester’s dominance and ability to limit the visitors from building from the back.

 

“The big thing that stuck with me was how aggressive Leicester were with their pressing,” Garner says. “It was a real full press, man on man and really aggressive. They did it in two different ways, but it was seamless. The first example shows where they dropped striker Tom Cannon in with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall into midfield, so they were making a conscious effort to match up to Ipswich, who have two deep midfield players in Lewis Travis and Massimo Luongo. They also matched up with Conor Chaplin and Marcus Harness, who were operating as the two No 10s, with Ricardo Pereira and Harry Winks on each part of Ipswich’s midfield box.

 

Ipswich found it difficult to play out from the back, probably more than they have at any other time this season. That was credit to Leicester and the intensity of their press, forcing mistakes and regularly regaining possession in good areas.”

 

From open play, Leicester triggered a second type of press, with Cannon and Dewsbury-Hall advancing to put pressure on Ipswich centre-backs Luke Woolfenden and George Edmundson while McAteer and Pereira kept full-backs Clarke and Davis pinned back. Centre-back Wout Faes’ advanced position in midfield to go man-to-man with Chaplin was crucial to Leicester’s success in a high-risk, high-reward pressing system, as Garner explains.

 

I don't want to give more away as it's a paid site, but it's a cracking piece.

 

Overall, even though there are some minor shortcomings with Enzo, his overall ability to coach a cohesive modern system that is so technical is a site to behold. It's not just about having the best players in terms of quality in the division, the way we press together as a unit at the right times is glorious. There's more in the article about the attacking side of the game, but I just wanted to concentrate on the pressing, which IMO was elite for much of the Ipswich game.

 

If we give Enzo the time to get the squad he wants so he can truly play the way he wants to, fans across Europe will be waxing lyrical about us.

The loving that Ipswich got after as if they somehow deserved anything from that game was laughable to me! Commentators were almost willing them to score. I concede that we were asking for trouble as it was carbon copy of the way the game at Portman Rd played out but we were the architects of our own downfall and first half we showed a complete class above. In reality they didn't touch us until we took the foot off. All it needed was us to take one other chance for 2-0 and there was zero comeback from them. Such a shame we didn't learn from the away game.

[Ashley]

41 pass move for our goal v Ipswich. 

 

We tried to speed it up af certain points but it didn't work so we had to recycle the ball well for the final opportunity and were the goal came from. 

 

The weight of pass back to Mav is disgustingly good in the tight area both players had to operate in. They take out 3 if not 4 players between them with the quick one two.

 

Some find our style boring, I don't. I'm happy with the way we play. 

 

I think for Leicester fans, I include myself in this. Since supporting us we've played effective football not good football. This is more easy on the eye/how football should be played etc. 

 

The latter has only started in recent years then dropped off under BR. Its coming back. How well we've adapted to Enzo philosophy is pleasing to see. We're good now but as we progress we will get better as as well as new signings Give him the time and we're comfortably a mid - European places in the Premier League.

 

Hey maybe another trophy or two. 

 

Trust the process. 

[fuchsntf]

42 minutes ago, adejo92 said:

Despite having the best squad in the division (Considerably)...I do still feel that Enzo-Ball is a bit like Champagne football with lemonade players. We do play some good football at the back, and we do manage to create space, but we lack the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernado Silva & Rodri who have that ability to play that cutting pass when it reaches midfield.

 

More often that not, we'll play some good stuff to get it into our midfield, but we then look a little bit lost and far too restricted to actually make anything of the move so end up having to go backwards and start again.

 

It's nobody's fault that we don't have the players mentioned above, but you have to work with what you do have.

 

Any one who thinks there is going to be wholesale changes within the squad next season are going to be very disappointed. We'll go into next season with a couple of new faces but it won't be any where sufficient to be successful (or even avoid relegation) if we persist on this style of play.

 

Just my honest opinion.

My honest opinion Enzo & his  squad,are solving the high % of problems,riding the top of the league have their flaws,but are doing a lot better than this forum predicted,or are predicting…Lot of snowflakes worrying that there are obvious problems,that Enzo was/is expecting and prepared to accept they have & can learn

from some & not yet others…Some seem shocked that the opposition can also kick a ball,again like Enzo talks about everyday,every week, The opposition no matter who they are,are allowed to make things difficult….That’s football,that’s why the bottom five have taken points from top 5….By the way like they tend to do since the history of football….We have got more right than most & faced most challenges..

We are all in a learn process..and at the beginning of the season,neither we nor ANY

pundit knew if we have potential PL players or not. So far relegated 
PL players including some wise & canny investments,who still have to prove at what

PL hights they can sore.

 

Though that is not yet the challenge in front of us,first we

have also a major and high worthy challenge to overcome,where 70+ other clubs

would be envious of…First I will enjoy & embrace the positives knowing we still have

far to go to cut out major errors. At least we have a manager who knows it won’t be

easy sailing and football often tends to get in the way..

[StriderHiryu]

2 hours ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

 

Funnily enough, for us that isn't even that great a move! It showcases our ability to sustain attacks. The move breaks down 3 times in that sequence, but we still keep control of it, start again and end up with a goal. Being able to do that is one of the hardest things to do in football and showcases an excellent coaching setup.

 

10 minutes ago, ParkerPen said:

what concerns me most is the amount of chances we concede in most games.

 

we dont get punished because the championship is a lower level, prem teams would also certainly find more chances, but crucially convert more of these chances.

A really valid concern and when we go up I would expect it to be rough at times because of this. However, I would say that as Enzo is able to shape his squad over time and can work with his players for longer, we should get better at this. Giving away a lot of chances was what Klopp's teams do in his first season, or even last season as they were mid-rebuild.

 

6 minutes ago, TheGoldenGod said:

The loving that Ipswich got after as if they somehow deserved anything from that game was laughable to me! Commentators were almost willing them to score. I concede that we were asking for trouble as it was carbon copy of the way the game at Portman Rd played out but we were the architects of our own downfall and first half we showed a complete class above. In reality they didn't touch us until we took the foot off. All it needed was us to take one other chance for 2-0 and there was zero comeback from them. Such a shame we didn't learn from the away game.

Ha I'm with you! What I would say is that our press was amazing for about 80 minutes of that game, then it was average, and they scored in that period. And IMO it dropped off because we didn't freshen up the players fast enough, whereas Ipswich did.

[Les-TA-Jon]

I'm also not sure the 'we tried to defend a 1-0' is correct. I don't think it was a deliberate tactical shift. I think we just lost intensity in our press/attacking as our front 5 looked pretty leggy from about 65mins. Meanwhile Ipswich freshened themselves up with 2 subs at 61 mins and 2 more at 71 mins.

 

We didn't make changes until 81 mins. 

 

 

[Chelmofox]

17 minutes ago, ParkerPen said:

what concerns me most is the amount of chances we concede in most games.

 

we dont get punished because the championship is a lower level, prem teams would also certainly find more chances, but crucially convert more of these chances.

Ipswich have scored the 3rd most goals in the league (behind us and Southampton) and are renowned as one of the best attacking sides in the division. They had 5 shots , 3 on target (2 of which led to the goal).  We have conceded the fewest goals in the league, and our goal difference is 10 more than the next best - the mighty Leeds.

 

I dont get where all this conceding loads of chances comes from?

[davieG]

29 minutes ago, ParkerPen said:

what concerns me most is the amount of chances we concede in most games.

 

we dont get punished because the championship is a lower level, prem teams would also certainly find more chances, but crucially convert more of these chances.

I'm more concerned with the chances we're missing.

[Kilworthfox]

The only variable that has changed this season is the quality of the opposition. 

[Lambert09]

My actual concern with enzo, is that we don’t know what he’s like against opposition  that is equally as good, or better than our squad. 

 

He’s very much used to always having the best players at man city and here, if we go up, all of a sudden this perfect style might not be so functional.  So far , we have nothing to measure it against, 2 games against liverpool, and leeds. Other than that, we’ve not faced anyone that really challenges us in that way.  (I’ve excluded southampton because they were far below our standard at the time we met them) 

 

Im desperate for us to get through the cup because a game against a  lower half prem side would be eye opening one way or the other 

Edited 24 January by Lambert09

[Mickyblueeyes]

22 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Funnily enough, for us that isn't even that great a move! It showcases our ability to sustain attacks. The move breaks down 3 times in that sequence, but we still keep control of it, start again and end up with a goal. Being able to do that is one of the hardest things to do in football and showcases an excellent coaching setup.

 

 

Exactly what I was thinking - a bit special watching that. The first move (the long diagonal to McAteer) with Fatawu may have actually have been very different. 

 

It really is excellent coaching. After a year/18 months of what seemed like a really poorly coached side, it is refreshing to see. 

[moore_94]

13 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

Ipswich have scored the 3rd most goals in the league (behind us and Southampton) and are renowned as one of the best attacking sides in the division. They had 5 shots , 3 on target (2 of which led to the goal).  We have conceded the fewest goals in the league, and our goal difference is 10 more than the next best - the mighty Leeds.

 

I dont get where all this conceding loads of chances comes from?

Second lowest expected goals against in the league as well

 

So even if we do give up some chances in games, they aren’t regularly good quality ones